The Joplin Globe, Joplin, MO

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November 19, 2008

Area senators mixed on proposal to rescue Big Three automakers

From staff reports

news@joplinglobe.com

If Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., hadn’t canceled a vote on a $25 billion auto industry bailout, the deal would have faced skepticism from area U.S. senators.

Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., offered an alternative that had Bush administration support; his Democratic counterpart from Missouri, Claire McCaskill, was noncommittal.

Oklahoma’s two Republican senators, Tom Coburn and Jim Inhofe, expressed concerns about the deal, while Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., also was wary.

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said the administration supports a measure being worked on by Bond and Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, that would provide emergency loans to the auto industry, saying the key difference between it and Reid’s plan is that it would “require auto manufacturers to make the hard choices necessary to become financially viable.”

“One thing he (Bond) has said is that fiscal conservatives should want Congress to fix the problem now, while there is still some leverage to demand taxpayer protection,” Shana Marchio, a Bond spokeswoman, said Wednesday.

Bond’s proposal calls for funds to come from the 2009 Continuing Resolution for the Advanced Vehicle Manufacturing Incentive Program. That measure is a $25 billion loan program approved by Congress in September that was designed to help the companies develop more fuel-efficient cars.

Under the GOP proposal, repaid loans and related funds would go first to restore the incentive program and then to reduce public debt.

Companies receiving funds would have to show how the money would ensure viability, with performance goals and milestones.

Maria Speiser, spokeswoman for McCaskill, said the senator had not made a decision on the bailout and had asked for additional information.

Opponents

Coburn said he opposes any cash giveaways to the Big Three unless the automakers first rein in employment costs.

“(They) will not be competitive until their employment costs are comparable to their competitors,” Coburn said in a statement. “The United Auto Workers union and Big Three executives jeopardized the future of their companies by allowing employee costs to cripple their competitiveness. ... Renegotiating labor contracts is the only sensible way forward.”

Coburn said labor rates in the auto industry are out of sync with salaries across the nation. He said the total hourly compensation package for employees of the Big Three averages $73.21. The same figure for American Honda, Toyota and Nissan plants is $44.20, he said, and the average for goods-production jobs in the United States is $31.59.

Inhofe has proposed a bill that would freeze the first half of the original $700 billion bailout pegged for the financial industry and would require congressional approval of the Treasury’s plan for the second half of the money.

“Congress completely abdicated its responsibility by signing a truly blank check over to the treasury secretary,” Inhofe said in a speech Monday on the Senate floor.

Brownback’s office issued a statement Wednesday acknowledging the role the automakers play in the economy.

“Currently, however, the auto industry is being hurt by the sluggish global economy,” he said. “While I believe the industry would benefit from re-purposing the $25 billion loan previously approved by the federal government, Congress must carefully consider all the options before allocating more federal dollars to the auto industry.”

Phone messages left Wednesday at the office of Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., were not returned.

Staff writers Joe Hadsall, Susan Redden and Derek Spellman contributed to this report.





Salary limit



Under the proposal by Sens. Kit Bond and George Voinovich, the Big Three automakers would be subject to limits on executive compensation if they receive a federal loan.

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